Thursday, October 11, 2018

Cleaning out the inbox-Non-Sports Edition

We start another inbox cleaning with Pablo Escobar's Hippos.

But first, I've been so happy with the reaction to the Santos Laciar and Donald Curry posts.
I've seen several people in the boxing community whos names I know and respect have liked the posts and that means the world to me.
Hopefully, with luck, a voter or two will read and maybe consider one or both boxers HOF argument.

Pablo Escobar, the deceased Colombian drug lord, who was killed in 1993, owned a large compound filled with wild animals, including four hippos.
When Escobar was killed by the Colombian Army, the animals were shipped to various zoos across the country/world, but the four hippos were not captured and were left on the ranch.
Hippos are very difficult to transport and handle with National Geographic stating that one juvenile hippo was caught and moved to a zoo at a cost of five thousand dollars.
The herd escaped off the Escobar ranch and has moved across Colombia along with growth from the original four to an estimated forty to sixty currently.
The escaped pack is an interesting bunch to follow because scientists can see how they affect the surrounding environment.
Some think that they will have a negative effect based on eating the native plants (Hippos are herbivores), perhaps changing the water flow with their bulk changing the bottom of rivers and lakes
and should be removed from the area before damage is done.
Others think they could add to the environment by replacing long-extinct animals and replacing their positives in the area, so their belief is to leave the herd alone, follow them and see how things work out.
It'll be interesting to check back every few years and check the conditions in the area.

The Kennywood Amusement Park outside of Pittsburgh is retiring its oldest ride as the "Log Jammer" will be dropping its last visitors into the water in the fall.
The Log Jammer debuted in 1975 as a flume ride and was the first ever million-dollar ride at the park.

One of my favorite fast food place that apparently is struggling, although I find that hard to believe by the customers there, in Sonic Drive-In's now has a new owner.
The good folks at Inspired Brands, who own Arby's and Buffalo Wild Wings added Sonic to their portfolio for a mere 2.3 billion. which I'm sure was nothing at all for them to pay for the new player in their starting lineup.
I've always liked Sonic and couldn't wait for them to come to Hagerstown, but they built it at a location that I am rarely near and I think I've been there twice in the few years that they have been in business.

The Miami Herald writes of "toxic red tide, dead crabs and brown oceans" and that's before any hurricanes hit in Naples, home of Florida's current governor and candidate for a Senate seat, Rick Scott, who led a surgical snipping of so many environmental regulations in Florida.
When you allow businesses and companies free reign to do what they wish without consequences-This is the result.
I know we all groan about the various impositions that government places on us, but I'm more often than not on the side of government on this topic.
With the constant loosening of these protections by the current Presidents, I believe these types of problems will become even more prevalent as states are allowed to do what they wish.

And finally, Voyager 2 is beginning to receive some of the signs of passing into interstellar space soon.
Its sister craft Voyager 1 did so in 2012 as the only craft to do that previously and it is the numbers from that event that makes NASA believe that Voyager 2 is preparing to make the same trip.
NASA does say that it could take a little longer due to the differing conditions in that particular area of the heliosphere.

That cleans the inbox for non-sports items for now.
Still some sports items coming up soon!










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